Mum claims she can see Jesus in flames of Notre Dame cathedral

A mother from Scotland says that she has spotted the figure of Jesus in the fires of the Notre Dame.

Lesley Rowan, 38, was looking at coverage of the fire on Monday night at her home in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire, when she said she saw the son of God.

She said: ‘I may be letting my mind play tricks on me here, folks take a close look at this picture and what do you see.’

The image that Lesley Rowan said contains the picture of Jesus Christ in the flames of the Notre Dame (Picture: Getty)

She asked her followers if her mind was playing tricks on her (Picture: Getty)

Lesley said she hoped the image would help the people of Paris (Picture: Lesley Rowan)

She later added: ‘When I looked at this photo last night, I was really astounded by what I saw. When I look at it I see a silhouette of Jesus. I really see a vivid image.

‘I feel like it will bring comfort to people in Paris and all over the world at this sad time.’

Some people agreed, saying they could see a gown, while others said it could just be a statue and the more cynical said they could just see a fire.

How the Notre Dame fire unfolded

Fuelled by a lattice of centuries-old timbers, the Notre Dame fire moved hungrily across the cathedral’s rooftop toward its iconic spire as firefighters, priests and municipal workers passed treasures hand-to-hand, hoping to outrun the flames.

They had 66 minutes.

The first alarm sounded at 6.20pm local time (5.20pm BST), silencing the priest and a few hundred worshippers and tourists inside.

Johann Vexo, who was in the organ loft for Monday Mass said: ‘Everyone was immobilised by shock for maybe a minute.’

The rear doors opened and within a few minutes, the cathedral was empty, he told Ouest-France newspaper.

For 23 minutes, it seemed like a false alarm. Then at 6.43pm a second smoke detector went off and the fire showed its face.

The first alarm sounded at 6.20pm, silencing the priest and a few hundred worshippers (Picture: AP)

For 23 minutes, it seemed like a false alarm. Then at 6.43pm a second smoke detector went off and the fire showed its face (Picture: Getty)

For the first half an hour, it looked like the fire could not possibly leave more than a small age mark on the nearly 900-year-old building.

Across the Seine in City Hall, Mayor Anne Hidalgo glanced out the window during an evening meeting to see a yellow cloud blotting out the sky. She rushed to the island that is the historic and geographic heart of Paris.

‘I came here and felt powerless as the flames overtook the cathedral,’ she said on Tuesday.

Sombre onlookers dotted the stone walkways that line the river. They wept as flames overtook the rooftop spire.

Below it, nestled deep in the cathedral, was the treasure chest, keeper of Notre Dame’s most sacred relics.

Within a few hours the roof was gone form the Notre Dame (Picture: AFP)

For the first half an hour, it looked like the fire could not possibly leave more than a small age mark (Picture: PA)

Firefighters cracked the chest open, pulling out the Crown of Thorns revered as the one worn by Jesus Christ at his crucifixion.

Made of rushes wrapped into a wreath and tied with gold filament, it had been kept under glass since 1896.

The tunic of St Louis, believed to have belonged to King Louis IX, came out of the chest along with fragments of the cross and a nail, said Patrick Chauvet, rector of Notre Dame Cathedral.

The relics were safe. Then came the artwork.

General Jean-Claude Gallet of the fire brigade told BFM television: ‘We had to get them, in the smoke, as debris was falling, to protect them.’

At 7.49pm, the 19th-century spire that was the architectural masterpiece of Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and his post-Revolutionary restoration broke apart and fell through the nave, taking with it three relics sealed inside in 1935.

The spire fell after 66 minutes, taking with it three relics that had been locked inside (Picture: PA)

As darkness fell, 20 firefighters climbed inside the two towers ‘at great risk to their lives, to attack the fire from the inside and save the building,’ said Laurent Nunez, deputy interior minister.

At 11.23pm, the fire chief said the rest of the structure, including the cathedral’s twin bell towers, had been saved. It had been within 30 minutes of collapse.

It took 10 more hours for the last flames to be put out. The spire’s bronze rooster, long a symbol of France, was found on Tuesday, deformed by the heat but recognisable nonetheless.

‘Beyond emotion, beyond words, beyond tears,’ Christophe Castaner, France’s interior minister, said on Tuesday as he visited the cathedral, ‘What I want to express is the pride of the men and women who committed to saving Notre Dame.’